‘13th check’ pension payouts: $73 million

The year-end bonuses for city retirees have grown over the years

There’s little debate that the checks help many retirees struggling to make ends meet. Two of the five retirees who received the largest checks last year had annual pensions of less than $25,000.

The Watchdog tried to reach the top 5 and discovered that two had died in recent weeks.

Elmer Burleigh, a former fire captain who retired in 1972 and died Tuesday at age 97, received a bonus check for about $2,000 in November that supplemented his annual pension of nearly $37,000. His daughter-in-law, Barbara Burleigh, said the extra money helped pay for medical bills and other health-related costs in his final days.

“It was extremely helpful,” she said. “It was a godsend.”

Robert Blair, 89, a former assistant fire chief who retired in 1976 and now lives in Escondido, said he understands why some people may not like the 13th check but retirees are entitled to the money.

“I’m retired and could use the money,” said Blair, who has a $54,000-a-year pension and received a $2,042 check last year. “It helps me pay the bills. I like it. I’m all for it.”

The city has been saddled with its pension deficit for much of the past decade after decisions in 1996 and 2002 to increase retirement benefits without identifying a way to pay for them. In many ways, the 13th check was the first of several financial decisions over the past three decades that have led to the city’s current fiscal crisis and an ongoing parade of budget cuts.

Two auditing firms that investigated the city’s finances have criticized the 13th check. Each said the most fiscally prudent practice is to stash away surplus earnings to save for years when the fund performs poorly, not give it away.

City Councilman Carl DeMaio said the 13th check has had a devastating impact on the pension system and, in turn, taxpayers who have been saddled with the subsequent debt.

“The 13th check is a perfect example, among many examples in the pension system, of why this is not sustainable,” he said of employee pensions.

The circumstances that trigger the 13th check have changed over time. As it stands, the benefit must be distributed if the pension fund’s earnings exceed 7.75 percent in a given year and the excess covers the pension system’s operating budget by more than $100,000.

Earnings have failed to meet that threshold twice, in 2003 and 2009, and retirees received nothing in those years.